OPPOSITION is being stepped up to proposed new Border controls which would require ferry travellers from Northern Ireland to the UK Mainland having to undergo the same level of movement control as airports.

Travellers from the Province would have to produce passports… just the same as if they were boarding a flight to the Continent or further afield.

The Home Office is currently considering putting new restrictions on movement between Ireland, including Northern Ireland, and mainland Britain under the 'e-borders programme.' An electronic tracking system will record all movements of people, aircraft, ships, vehicles and goods arriving and leaving the country.

If these plans are approved, it could mean Northern Ireland travellers will have to go through new security checks, similar to those faced by foreign visitors who arrive in the UK by sea.

Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jim Allister described the suggestion that UK citizens from Northern Ireland should have to produce their passports when travelling from Northern Ireland to other parts of the UK as "preposterous and unacceptable".

"If the UK needs more effective border controls, then they must be at the border, not located so as to de facto treat Northern Ireland as if it were part of an all-Ireland state."

He described UK citizens from Northern Ireland being denied free movement within the United Kingdom as "utterly incompatible with and prejudicial to British citizenship."

He continued: "I have, therefore, written to the Home Secretary seeking immediate clarification on what is intended."

Environment Minister in the Assembly Sammy Wilson, and MLA for East Antrim, has also suggested the security procedures could mean the introduction of airport-style early arrival times for ferry passengers, and he has said the plans would reduce Northern Ireland travellers to the role of "second class citizens within the UK."

Minister Wilson has met with Home Office Under Secretary Meg Hiller to voice his concerns and oppose any move to distinguish between the Province and England, Scotland and Wales.

Said the Minister: "These measures would mean that there are more restrictions placed on the movement of Northern Ireland citizens than there are on other UK citizens. Because we have a land border with another state we could be placed outside the e-border around the UK."

Ferry company Stena Line said it supports proposals submitted jointly by the Chamber of Shipping and the Passenger Shipping Association on behalf of ferry operators on the Irish Sea.

In a statement the ferry operator said: "There is no evidence against which to judge whether the proposal to impose passport and identity controls on individuals arriving in the UK from Ireland by ferry is sound, and no reason to suppose that those controls would fulfill any useful purpose.

"Given that a significant proportion of passengers on Irish Sea sailings may be expected not to carry passports, the imposition of a requirement for everyone to obtain one (or another machine-readable document) is likely to be a decisive deterrent to travel for many.

"It is striking that the control model proposed for the land boundary, of overall traffic monitoring supported by targeted risk-based interventions, is essentially the same as that currently in place at Irish Sea ports and has operated successfully in relation to ferry traffic for many years.

"Given that the profile of traffic across the Irish Sea is virtually the same as that across the land boundary, logic and commonsense dictate that the same model of border controls should be applied to both flows of traffic, and that there should be no change to the existing controls on ferry traffic."

A spokesperson for P&O Irish Sea said simply that talks were ongoing while the Home Office denied there are plans to require travellers from NI to produce passports when entering Great Britain.